As a former police officer, I will say that stop-and-frisk is a valuable tool
to ensure the safety of officers and the public.

It should be noted that stop-and-frisk, which was established in U.S. Supreme
Court case Terry v. Ohio (1968), was never intended to become any police
department's policy. It was established to preserve the safety of police
officers and the public throughout the country.

It allows an officer to STOP, QUESTION, AND FRISK suspects who are committing,
have committed or about to commit a crime based on reasonable suspicion (i.e..
outline of a gun, heavy coat in August etc.).

Unfortunately the police department's administration decided to make
stop-and-frisk a measurement of productivity.

Unfortunately it is the department's misguided attempt to show individual
officer activity which made the appearance of a "policy."

So until the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Terry v. Ohio or the U.S. Congress
passes a law preventing stop-and-frisks, every officer should continue to
utilize stop-and-frisk as a tool to ensure their safety when the circumstances
call for it.

[The
writer retired from the New York Police Department as a lieutenant.]